Getting my fat ass in shape

OK.  I admit it.  I am fat.  I've been fat for a long time but I haven't done anything about it.  But that needs to change.  Why?  Well, the obvious one is because of my health.  I can't continue to be as overweight as I am without it starting to have a negative impact on my health long term.  So far I've been pretty lucky and don't have diabetes or high blood pressure or anything - but if I simply maintain where I've gotten to it's just a matter of time.  But I've known I need to fix this for my health for a long time - so why now?  What's the catalyst for jumping in this time around and committing to losing weight this time?  I wanted to start getting some exercise so I joined a co-ed soccer team with some of my co-workers last year.  Rather than get into shape my body started to break down.  My knees are killing me, I pulled muscles on a regular basis and I've now got a terrible case of plantar fasciitis.  This all made me realize that in order to be as active as I wanted to I need to lose some weight by changing my diet.  I used to play baseball, basketball, soccer - for hours on end.  It kills me that I can't do any of this anymore.  I know I'm older, but that's no excuse.  Now is the time to get my fat ass in shape.  I've got four kids to keep up with - and hauling around this tanker truck of a body is going to make that difficult!